Unmanned aerial vehicles (hereinafter “UAVs” or “drones”) are becoming ubiquitous, and are increasingly being deployed for many different uses and tasks. Recently, UAVs have been used by lifeguards at beaches to monitor swimmers, and in one case, a UAV was equipped with a mechanism for dropping a life preserver to save a swimmer in distress. Along those lines, UAVs may be particularly helpful in man-overboard situations, along with other swimmer-in-distress events. There are many reported cases of people disappearing from cruise ships, and in such an event, a UAV is highly useful for conducting search and rescue operations because it can be quickly and easily deployed directly from the ship, provides a bird's eye view over a large area, and can quickly cover large distances in a short period of time. A search and rescue drone could be used on commercial fishing vessels and other types of boats and ships, particularly including those that routinely operate in bad weather conditions. In a man overboard situation, time is critical, especially in colder waters, where life expectancy may be around 15 minutes before hypothermia and even death occurs. Thus, the ability to deploy a search and rescue drone to quickly locate and provide assistance to a swimmer in distress could mean the difference between life and death.
Efforts are underway to develop UAVs specifically for search and rescue operations, particularly involving water rescue operations. The following references show several examples of such development efforts for UAVs, and these references are incorporated herein by reference, in their entireties:
US Application Publication No. US20150066248—Unmanned Vehicle Searches
A method of planning a flight path for a search can include receiving, by a control system, an indication of a search area boundary; receiving, by the control system, an indication of a selected search pattern; determining, by the control system, a flight path based on the search area boundary and the selected search pattern; and transmitting one or more indications of the flight path to an unmanned aerial vehicle.
US Application Publication No. US20160340006—Unmanned Aerial Vehicle System and Methods for Use
A drone equipped with a camera, a wireless communication module, an acoustic sensor, a GPS receiver, software and collapsible floatation device patrols above swimmers. The camera and acoustic sensor capture the video and audio of the swimmers. The information is either streamed to a command center or processed by the onboard software. With audio and video analysis capabilities, software is used to detect a swimmer in distress (SID). Alternatively the information is streamed to lifeguard or volunteers all over the world to spot SID.
Another detection method is to let a swimmer wear a wearable emergency notification device, which sends wireless signals comprising GPS location data. A SID presses a button to indicate rescue request and the drones fly over by GPS signal guidance. Solar power is used as the optional power source of the drones, which would allow the to sustain operation for a prolonged period of time. Once a SID is identified, the drone or drones fly over the SID and drops the collapsible floatation device.
US Application Publication No. US20170088261—Search and Rescue UAV System and Method
An unmanned aerial vehicle (UAV) having at least one sensor for detecting the presence of a survivor in a search and rescue area. The at least one sensor is preferably an ultra-wide band (UWB) transceiver sensor. The UAV includes a UAV data link transceiver for wirelessly communicating information concerning the survivor to a command center.
US Application Publication No. US20170210451—Drone-Type Lifesaving Equipment Dropping Device
A drone-type lifesaving equipment dropping device including: an unmanned aerial vehicle (2) having a propeller (4) and a rotor (3) configured to rotate the propeller; a holding member (10) which is installed to the unmanned aerial vehicle (2) and configured to be operated by wireless control; and a lifesaving equipment which is detachably engaged to the holding member (10) and is dropped from the holding member (10) after the lifesaving equipment is disengaged from the holding member.
Although each of the above-referenced systems is useful for search and rescue operations, and several of these systems may be used to deliver a flotation device or life preserver, none of the prior references discloses a UAV that is buoyant so that the UAV is, itself, a flotation device to assist a swimmer in distress (SID). Therefore, it would be desirable to provide a UAV that serves as a mobile life preserver, which is capable of landing on water and taking off from water, and which includes electronics for determining its position and transmitting an SOS signal, similarly to an emergency position-indicating radio beacon (EPIRB). Further, it would be advantageous, in man overboard types of situations, to provide the search and rescue drone with flashing lights, a spotlight, a camera and other sensors for locating a swimmer in distress, along with the capability for the UAV to autonomously fly along the same path (in reverse) that the boat was traveling when the man overboard situation occurred. Additionally, it would be advantageous to provide an electronic wearable device having the capability to communicate with the search and rescue drone, so that the drone may autonomously track the wearable device and fly to its location in an emergency situation.